Dear SafetyXChange Members:

If you could develop a leadership skill that was simple, inexpensive and enabled you to get more done by doing less, would you be interested? Would the persons you work with be interested? You might be surprised to learn that the skill I'm referring to is the ability to ask good questions.

Question Asking & Leadership

Like many leadership competencies, asking questions effectively is harder than it sounds. It's particularly challenging for those who are advancing through an organization. At this point in their career, these individuals are called on to make the transition from problem-solver to delegator, coach and one who empowers others to resolve problems. Problem-solving is a management skill, while getting things done through others is a leadership skill.

Thus, one of the most frequent complaints I hear from managers goes something like this: "I have no time to get my work done because my employee is constantly coming to me with problems that he should be able to solve himself. That's why I gave him the job. What am I paying him for anyway?"

Generally, this frustration is self-authored and represents a failure of leadership. It's symptomatic of managers that provide their own answers to every problem. In so doing, they teach the people they manage to come to them for help. They also gain a reputation as a problem-solver that discourages others from taking initiative. From the employee's perspective, the question becomes: "Do I take a chance and solve this problem myself, or do I go to the manager with the proven track record?"

The Value of Asking Questions

Cultivating the ability to ask the right questions at the right time and in the right fashion is one of the most effective things a safety professional or any other manager can do to get out of this box and take the step from manager to leader. It's no accident that asking questions is the foundation of what's called the Socratic Method of teaching. Socrates would have made a heckuva management consultant because he was among the first to recognize that being asked a pointed question in a non-confrontational manner is a license enabling a person to think for himself without being attacked or second-guessed. Stated differently, asking questions rather than expressing opinions is a way for the manager to communicate his or her belief in the person's capacity to work out the answer.

In addition to fostering a confidence in the person's own problem-solving and decision-making abilities, this method of discourse allows for the exchange and testing of new ideas and solutions. Applied across an organization, management mastery of the question-asking process can have a significant improvement on overall performance.

Conclusion

While it may be difficult, mastering the art of asking questions is definitely worth the effort. How do you do it? Now that's a good question. I'll answer it in Part 2 next week.

Wishing you career success,
Lauryn Franzoni
ExecuNet, www.execunet.com

BY THE NUMBERS

Highways become deadlier after dark

Passenger Vehicle Occupant Deaths - Night & Day

By Glenn Demby

44,443 The number of people who died on U.S. highways in 2005

73 The percentage of victims who were occupants of a passenger vehicle

3 The number of times higher the vehicle occupant fatality rate is at night*

3.3 The number of times more often alcohol was involved in nighttime as opposed to daytime fatalities

45 The percentage by which use of lap/shoulder seatbelts cut the risk of fatality to front seat passengers in cars at all times

60 The percentage by which use of lap/shoulder seatbelts cut the risk of fatalities to occupants of light trucks at all times

30 The approximate percentage by which seatbelt use can vary by different parts of the day, from a high of 58% at 2 p.m. to a low of 30% at 2 a.m.

* The number of deaths at night (15,294) and day (15,878) are about the same but because so many more miles are traveled during the day, the rate of fatalities at night is significantly higher.

Source: Varghese and Shankar, "Passenger Vehicle Occupant Fatalities by Day and Night," published in Traffic Safety Facts, National Highway Safety Transportation Administration, May 2007. http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/810637.PDF

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